An Anti-Asian Proposition – WSJ

It was supposed to be a rout. Yet only six weeks from the election, a progressive piety is now withering on California s November ballot. The Los Angeles Times summed up the startling news in a headline: New poll finds shaky support for Proposition 16 to restore affirmative action in California.

Proposition 16 would excise from California s constitution the 1996 ban on racial discrimination in public employment, contracting and education. Only a few months ago the stars seemed aligned for a yes vote: Its backers enjoy a massive advantage in fundraising and high-profile endorsements from California Democrats such as vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom, as well as support from teachers unions and professional sports teams. Even coronavirus contributed by helping the measure sail through the Legislature and onto the ballot without the more robust debate it might have received in normal times.

Meanwhile, the No on 16 campaign may be outgunned but it is long on energy and principle. Astoundingly for deep-blue California, it appears to be winning the argument. A Sept. 13 Public Policy Institute of California poll reports only 31% of likely voters saying they would vote for Proposition 16, while 47% would vote against it. That left 22% undecided.

Some explaining needs to be done if the proponents have any hopes of seeing this passed in November, says Mark Baldassare, the institute president. But Gail Heriot, a law professor at the University of San Diego who sits on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and co-chairs the No on 16 campaign, isn t so sure: The plainer the issue is made to California voters, the more they will oppose it.

via www.wsj.com

You go, Gail.